WAN – The Lawyers for Freedom Association (ÖHD) has submitted an open letter and formal appeals to the United Nations, the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights, and the World Medical Association. 

 

Attacks carried out on January 6 in Aleppo by Turkey-backed paramilitary groups affiliated with Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), targeting the Kurdish neighborhoods of Sheikh Maqsoud (Şêxmeqsûd) and Ashrafieh (Eşrefiye), quickly spread to many regions of Rojava. Following assaults on the Shaddadi prison in the rural areas of Hasakah (Hesekê), during which numerous ISIS detainees were released, the Lawyers for Freedom Association (ÖHD) called on international institutions to take action.

 

Stating that civilian residential areas have been systematically targeted and that living spaces and basic infrastructure have been struck, ÖHD sent open letters and emails to the United Nations, the Human Rights Committee, the Committee Against Torture, and the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights, demanding that the attacks be assessed within the framework of war crimes.

 

Speaking on the issue, ÖHD Co-Chair Ekin Yeter emphasized that the developments in Rojava cannot be separated from the total war policy waged against Kurds across the four parts of Kurdistan, adding that the silence of international mechanisms amounts to complicity in crime. Pointing out that the war launched against Kurds is not limited to Rojava, Ekin Yeter said: “The process concerning Rojava is no different from the policies pursued across the four parts of Kurdistan. We are facing an attempt to drag Kurds as a whole into a total war.”

 

Referring to HTS’s failure to comply with the March 10 agreement signed with the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), Ekin Yeter stated: “To date, no steps have been taken regarding the legal rights of Kurds, nor has there been any move toward organizing Syria as a democratic republic. On the contrary, a gang-like administration, in consensus with imperialist powers, has massacred many communities, including Druze and Alawites, creating the risk of further atrocities.”

 

VIOLATION OF INTERNATIONAL LAW 

 

Underlining that the attacks against Rojava constitute clear violations of international law, Ekin Yeter stressed that the assaults that began in Aleppo involve grave violations against civilians. “We see that these massacres against Druze, Alawite, and Kurdish communities in Syria are carried out with the support they receive from imperialist powers. Following meetings with imperial countries, large-scale attacks began,” she said.

 

Ekin Yeter also stated that the fate of women and children abducted by HTS and affiliated groups remains unknown, criticizing the silence of international actors. Referring to ÖHD’s applications to international institutions regarding war crimes in Rojava, Ekin Yeter called to legal professionals, saying: “No lawyer should remain silent in the face of these attacks. Every law office must become a center for documenting these human rights violations.”

 

The open letter submitted reads as follows:

 

“URGENT CALL FOR ACTION:

 

On behalf of Association of Lawyers for Freedom (ÖHD) we request your urgent intervention on the following in Syria.

 

Current situation:

 

As reported in the press in recent days and reflected in the international political arena, following the takeover of Syria by Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), systematic attacks targeting different ethnic and religious communities have been carried out by HTS and affiliated armed jihadist groups.

Following civilian massacres against Druze in Suwayda and Arab Alawites in Latakia, Tartus, Homs, and Hama, a multidimensional and comprehensive military and political offensive has been ongoing since January 6 in the neighbourhoods of Sheikh Maqsud and Ashrafiya in Aleppo, where the Kurdish population is concentrated.

 

As reflected in the international public opinion, serious war crimes, crimes against humanity, and grave violations of human rights law have been committed against the Kurds, who have been building a common life for peoples and protecting humanity, despite many wars for over 10 years, fighting against ISIS, which is a threat to the whole world. Indeed, this urgent appeal has been drafted for this very reason. During the attacks, residential areas and health facilities where defenseless civilians live have been directly targeted. According to data from the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), Since January 6, dozens of civilians, including children, have lost their lives in attacks by HTŞ and affiliated jihadist groups, many people have been injured, 120.000 peopole have been forcibly displaced, and more than 500 people have been abducted. 1 Rami Abdurrahman, founder and director of SOHR, stated that the information disseminated by the Damascus Transitional Authority regarding the clashes in Aleppo did not reflect the truth, that the resisting people did not have heavy weapons, and that some Arab channels defending the massacre were largely spreading official lies. Abdurrahman noted that forces claiming to protect civilians entered civilian streets and the Martyr Khalid Fajr Hospital with tanks, while the humanitarian calls made by hundreds of civilians trapped in their vehicles west of Sheikh Maqsud to leave the neighborhood were met with bullets.

 

Indeed, news reports and images reflected in the press show that the Martyr Khalid Fajr Hospital in Sheikh Maqsud and the Osman Hospital in Ashrafiya were bombed continuously, health workers were targeted, and at least three health workers lost their lives. It has been confirmed that during the HTŞ raid on the Ashrafiya neighborhood of Aleppo, hospital director Adnan Osman and his nephew, pharmacist Ali Osman, who remained behind to protect the hospital they had built, were killed. According to reports on social media and in the international press, over 300 civilians, including women, were taken hostage by HTŞ and affiliated jihadist gangs, most of the hostages were killed and were subjected to torture. The targeting of civilians' living spaces and especially health facilities, the torture and humiliation of the dead, and the acts of enforced disappearance all constitute violations of international humanitarian law, breaching the Geneva Convention and the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance. However, despite these violations, the observation is that international mechanisms are not being put into place and the international community remains deeply silent.

 

It is worthy to note that the deep crisis experienced in the international human rights scene within recent years stems from the ineffectiveness of these institutional mechanisms, the silence in the face of serious human rights violations, and the failure to implement sanctions mechanisms which pave the way for crimes against humanity and genocides to continue, causing all of us to wake up to news of a new disgrace against humanity each day. 

 

Conclusion:

 

Thus, as a rights and law association that strives to be involved with all its might wherever rights violations occur, that defends human rights and freedoms against all forms of power mechanisms, and that acts with this sense of duty, we call on international mechanisms to take action against the attacks on civilian areas, the massacres, and the forced displacement occurring in the two autonomous neighbourhoods in besieged Aleppo, which are predominantly inhabited by Kurds. We urge the international community to take action against these crimes against humanity and wish to share our concerns that if these atrocities go unaddressed, Syria—a country where peoples and faiths are expected to live equally and freely—could become a new arena and center for attacks and massacres against peoples and faiths.

 

In conclusion, on behalf of the Association of Lawyers for Freedom, we call for urgent intervention to immediately initiate the necessary steps and implement appropriate mechanisms to ensure the following:

 

1. The civilian population must be guaranteed protection without delay and without any conditions under the protection regime defined by international law.

 

2. All coercive practices aimed at displacing the population or creating demographic change must be stopped immediately.

 

3. Attacks on infrastructure and vital facilities and structures such as water and electricity must be stopped.

 

4. The immediate and unconditional protection of healthcare institutions and personnel under the international protection regime, and the provision of uninterrupted and safe healthcare services should be implemented.

 

5. Safe corridors should immediately open for the evacuation of victims' bodies and the treatment of the wounded.

 

6. Urgent action must be taken to find out about the fate and whereabouts of persons abducted by HTŞ and affiliated jihadist gangs and whose location remain unknown and from whom no news has been received.

 

7. The International community should call upon HTŞ and affiliated jihadist gangs to immediately and unconditionally release these abducted persons.

 

8. International war crimes committed during the attacks should be identified.

 

9. All parties to the conflict must be called upon to act in accordance with their responsibilities under international humanitarian law and the Geneva Conventions.”

 

MA / Zeynep Durgut